ABC has a four-page expose on Saudi gay life in particular and throughout the Middle East in general. Some highlights:
* Paranoia is rampant: In a recent case, the muttawa arrested a man at a Jeddah shopping mall for homosexuality because his jeans and shirt were too tight.
* Denial is widespread: Among Arabs, it seems, a mix of stigma and machismo causes most gays to identify as “tops.” “It re-enforces this feeling that you’re not really gay. They’re more comfortable with being tops, because it’s easier to negate [the gay stigma].”
* Egypt was once known as the “San Francisco of the Middle East,” but whomping on gays is a great way to steal fire from the Islamists. “One of the ways [Arab authorities] prove they’re bona fide is by cracking down on people that everyone hates.” Hate as an organizing principle of society doesn’t seem any closer to God than war as an organizing principle of society (as in the US).
* Elites imitate the neoconservative mindset in having one set of rules for themselves and another for the ‘little people.’ “I’ve been invited to private parties for gay men in Jeddah, but I never go because I know what would happen if we were caught. Unless it’s a VIP house — if the party is at the home of one of the princes or one of the sheiks then you’re protected.”
* ABC fails to apply post-colonial analysis and observe that all Arab homosexuality is derivative of Western colonization…oh wait, Saudi Arabia has never been colonized. Never mind.
